Ankara slams US Court ruling on Turkish banker

Ankara on Thursday strongly criticized the decision of a US court on the Turkish banker Hakan Atilla case, terming it as “judicial shame.”

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said “The US court has been stepped in Turkey’s internal affairs in an unprecedented way during a process where the country’s internal affairs were discussed on the basis of unrealistic stories, and so-called ‘evidences’, which are fake and open to exploitation, Anadolu Agency reported.

“It is our biggest wish that this decision, which is a judicial shame, will be corrected,” the Ministry added.

On Wednesday, a jury in New York found Atilla guilty on five counts related to conspiracy and bank fraud but acquitted him of a money laundering charge.

The Ministry also called the decision an “unjust and unfortunate development.”

The verdict by a panel of six men and six women against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the 47-year-old former deputy chief executive officer of Turkey’s Halkbank, came after more than three weeks of testimonies and four days of deliberation.

The counts on which Atilla was declared guilty included violation of US sanctions against Iran, crimes to deceive the US and defrauding US banks.